Unsung bass albums

[Grassie]

Those albums with great bass performances that have gone un-noticed…

”God Shuffled His Feet” by Crash Test Dummies.

Yes, maybe you can’t stand “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”, but Dan Roberts playing on this is album sublime - mostly fretless from what I can hear, high in the mix, and very tasteful indeed. Give it a listen.

Carry on…. 😎

[bassbiscuits]

New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. The band was a trio at the time (with a violin player coming in on a few of the album tracks) but the interplay between bass and drums is exceptional. 
 

Sounds like a P bass with a pick cranked up loud, locked in with a really “busy but good” drummer. 

Try “Family” and “The Ballad of Bodmin Pill” for starters.

 

Inspirational stuff. 

[Lozz196]

Any by The Jam, Bruce Foxtons bass playing is both melodic and high in the mix.

Edited November 7 by Lozz196

[cetera]

Doobie Brothers - Anything from Toulouse St - One Step Closer (Tiran Porter)

Chicago - Anything from CTA - XIV (Peter Cetera)

Lake - Lake, Lake II & Paradise Island (Martin Tiefensee) & Ouch (Heiko Effertz)

Ambrosia - Anything (Joe Puerta)

Atlanta Rhythm Section - Anything (Paul Goddard)

[Steve Browning]

This Way Upp by Upp. Stephen Amazing had every justification for choosing this monicker. 

[miles'tone]

Ozric Tentacles - Live Underslunky.

Zia Geelani's bass playing on this album is kind of my ground zero. Peak Ozrics line up (imho).

A corkin' live album.

[bassbiscuits]

Some great bass playing by Dee Murray on a live Elton John album called 17-11-70.

 

It was recorded when they were just a trio (Elton, drums and bass) in America really early on, so no big Elton hits yet, but some really fiery, tight interaction of the three instruments with plenty of room to explore. 

[Mediocre Polymath]

I don't think you'd call it virtuoso playing, but I've always really liked Gabe Nelson's stuff on Cake's 1998 album Fashion Nugget. 

 

The band's arrangements are deliberately sparse and clean, and Nelson's bass always sits alongside the interlocking guitar and horn parts, rather than just being a rumbling noise underneath them. 

 

"Let Me Go" is a particularly good example, with a wonderfully bouncy, gappy bass line and the two very distinct guitar parts. 

[Skybone]

3 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. The band was a trio at the time (with a violin player coming in on a few of the album tracks) but the interplay between bass and drums is exceptional. 
 

Sounds like a P bass with a pick cranked up loud, locked in with a really “busy but good” drummer. 

Try “Family” and “The Ballad of Bodmin Pill” for starters.

 

Inspirational stuff. 

He used a Westone Thunder 1A in the early days.

[Owen]

33 minutes ago, Mediocre Polymath said:

I don't think you'd call it virtuoso playing, but I've always really liked Gabe Nelson's stuff on Cake's 1998 album Fashion Nugget. 

 

The band's arrangements are deliberately sparse and clean, and Nelson's bass always sits alongside the interlocking guitar and horn parts, rather than just being a rumbling noise underneath them. 

 

"Let Me Go" is a particularly good example, with a wonderfully bouncy, gappy bass line and the two very distinct guitar parts. 

Very yes. What a cracking ensemble sound with yer man laying it down in all the right ways. 

 

See also Robert Sledge in Ben Folds Five stuff. Not to be confused with Ben Folds stuff. 

[Mediocre Polymath]

7 minutes ago, Owen said:

Very yes. What a cracking ensemble sound with yer man laying it down in all the right ways. 

 

See also Robert Sledge in Ben Folds Five stuff. Not to be confused with Ben Folds stuff. 

 

I recently rediscovered the Ben Folds Five Live at West 54th set, which is a great snapshot of them as a super-effective power trio. 

 

With Cake, apparently that style of "whole band" arrangement was something they always insisted on, much to the annoyance of various producers. John McCrea likes for each instrument to be playing something distinct, and for it to be possible for a listener to hear each part in isolation. As an aside, I was fascinated to discover (when I first got into them about a decade ago) just how completely the contemporary music press hated Cake.

[bassbiscuits]

58 minutes ago, Skybone said:

He used a Westone Thunder 1A in the early days.

Oh wow that’s cool. I think I played a Westone thunder 1A round about the same time then (when was it? 1988/9 or so?)

[Steve Browning]

4 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

This Way Upp by Upp. Stephen Amazing had every justification for choosing this monicker. 

 

A taster. Enjoy 🙂

 

 

 

[Hypo199]

In Tua Nua's Vaudeville album, despite them being an 80s Celtic folk / indie-rock crossover band there's some shockingly funky bassmanship from Jack Dublin. Stand out track for me is 'Heaven Can Wait'.

[leschirons]

Live in L.A. by the Rippingtons. 

Kim Stone on bass. Fabulous playing.

[peteb]

My go-to in these types of threads is always the Pat Travers live album 'Go for What You Know'. The bass playing of Mars Cowling is nothing short of astounding - I'm still trying to nail some of his parts 46 years later! The rest of band aren't too shabby either, elevating what otherwise might be seen as pretty standard groove based blues rock! 

 

The 1972 Donny Hathaway Live album, featuring Willie Weeks on bass, is pretty good as well... 

 

[ezbass]

Alien Love Child - Live & Beyond. ALC was basically Eric Johnson being the guitarist in a band, rather than being the front guy and guitarist. Malford Milligan on vocals was superb in taking front stage, but Chris Maresh on bass steals the show for me. So much so that, 25 years or so ago, whilst doing the ironing and listening to this album, I decided to jump ship and play bass full time. Sure, the seeds had been sown in the ‘80s with Pino and I had dabbled with bass a bit, before going back to guitar, but it was Chris’ playing on this album that made me realise that bass was what I should be playing as my primary instrument.

[BlueMoon]

Ian Hunter - All American Alien Boy (1976). Jaco just getting started. Fabulous mix of classic soloing and some tasty minimalist playing from the master.

[Jack_Stroud_Bass]

On 06/11/2025 at 22:05, Grassie said:

Those albums with great bass performances that have gone un-noticed…

”God Shuffled His Feet” by Crash Test Dummies.

Yes, maybe you can’t stand “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”, but Dan Roberts playing on this is album sublime - mostly fretless from what I can hear, high in the mix, and very tasteful indeed. Give it a listen.

Carry on…. 😎

Could not agree more with this!

 

It's one of my favourite albums. Not just of the nineties, but ever. I saw them twice when they came over to the UK recently for the anniversary of the album. Unfortunately Dan didn't have a fretless bass (A green/turquoise Fender Jazz from what I could make out), but it still sounded ace. S

 

So glad there's another fan of his out there! 

[uk_lefty]

On 06/11/2025 at 22:05, Grassie said:

God Shuffled His Feet” by Crash Test Dummies.

Can't believe I've never listened to this album! Really enjoying it.

[StickyDBRmf]

Van der Graaf Generator  - Vital. It's a live album. To call the bass sound huge would be an understatement.

[Jackroadkill]

On 07/11/2025 at 13:08, bassbiscuits said:

New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. The band was a trio at the time (with a violin player coming in on a few of the album tracks) but the interplay between bass and drums is exceptional. 
 

Sounds like a P bass with a pick cranked up loud, locked in with a really “busy but good” drummer. 

Try “Family” and “The Ballad of Bodmin Pill” for starters.

 

Inspirational stuff. 

 

NMA have had some great bass players; Morrow, Moose Harris and Nelson being my favourites.  Such a great band - pretty much all of their records are excellent, as well as under-rated.

[lowdown]

On 07/11/2025 at 21:49, leschirons said:

Live in L.A. by the Rippingtons. 

Kim Stone on bass. Fabulous playing.

 

 

He really is in the pocket on that album...Lovely rich tone as well.